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DECISION No. 124/2003/QD-TTg OF JUNE 17, 2003 APPROVING THE SCHEME ON CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF VIETNAMESE ETHNIC MINORITY GROUPS' CULTURE

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the December 25, 2001 Law on Organization of the Government;

Pursuant to the June 29, 2001 Law on Cultural Heritage;

Pursuant to the Government's action program for implementation of the Resolution of the 5th plenum of the Party Central Committee (the VIIIth Congress) on "building and developing an advanced Vietnamese culture deeply imbued with the national identity" (Document No. 1109/CP-VX of September 17, 1998);

At the proposal of the Minister of Culture and Information (Official Dispatch No. 200 TTr-BVHTT of December 24, 2002),

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To approve the scheme on "conservation and development of Vietnamese ethnic minority groups' culture" with the following principal contents:

1. The scheme name: "Conservation and development of Vietnamese ethnic minority groups' culture."

2. The scheme's manager: The Ministry of Culture and Information.

3. Principal coordinating agencies: The Committee for Nationalities; the Ministries of: Planning and Investment; Finance; Education and Training; Defense (the Political General Department, the Border Guard Command); and Post and Telecommunications; the National Center for Social Sciences and Humanity; the Radio Voice of Vietnam; Vietnam Television Station; the Literature and Arts Association of Vietnamese Ethnic Minority Groups as well as the People's Committees of the concerned provinces and centrally-run cities.

4. Scheme implementation duration: From 2003 to 2010.

5. General objectives:

a/ To conserve, selectively inherit and promote traditional cultural quintessence, build and develop new values of culture and arts of ethnic minority groups;

b/ To discover and foster the contingent of literary and art writers and composers being ethnic minority people;

c/ To organize surveys, collection, research and dissemination of cultural and art values; to conserve and promote traditional handicrafts of ethnic minority people; to step up the building and promotion of the efficiency of culture-information institutions; to develop healthy cultural and art activities;

d/ To build up a civilized lifestyle and cultured families; to expand the information network in regions inhabited by ethnic minority people, contribute to raising the intellectual standard, eliminating backward customs and practices, contributing to tourist development as well as hunger elimination and poverty alleviation.

6. Contents of conservation and promotion of the values of traditional cultural heritages of ethnic minority groups:

a/ To investigate, survey, make statistics, manage and restore historical relics, revolutionary relics, cultural relics, landscapes and beauty spots, special ecological zones and national parks in mountainous areas and regions inhabited by ethnic minority people;

b/ To collect, preserve, research into and introduce ethnic minority groups' architecture, costumes, musical instruments, production tools, brocade and porcelain-china articles in museums, cultural centers, exhibitions and daily life; to preclude the loss or damage of ethnic groups' precious vestiges and antiques which still exist with great potential among people;

c/ To organize the collection, research, introduction and archival of types of folk literature and arts of various ethnic groups; to create new literature and art values on the basis of inheriting and promoting the particular and distinctive traditional traits of ethnic minority groups; to organize and guide measures to manage, preserve and promote cultural activities related to traditional rituals as well as healthy customs and practices of ethnic minority groups; to select some addresses (villages, hamlets) where the rich and distinctive traditional culture of each ethnic group is concentrated for conservation and promotion;

d/ To investigate, survey, classify, conserve, promote and develop traditional handicrafts and gastronomic culture of ethnic minority groups;

e/ Together with the universalization of Vietnamese language, the spoken and written language of each ethnic group should be wider used in the cultural propagation and exchange as well as economic, scientific-technical and legal information in regions inhabited by ethnic minority people;

f/ To develop the culture-information service, raise the people's cultural life:

To qualitatively and quantitatively strengthen and develop mobile film-projection teams, information groups, mass art troupes, libraries and bookcases in combination with communal post-culture places; to enhance the introduction of culture and arts to people at the grassroots with suitable contents and programs; to strengthen and comprehensively develop the grassroots information system; to diversify forms of cultural and art exchange among regions inhabited by ethnic minority people;

g/ To build up cultured families, villages and hamlets:

- To build up appropriate conventional models and standards;

- To organize study courses for officials, Party members and people to thoroughly understand the conventional models and standards then voluntarily register the implementation thereof;

- To monitor, examine, urge and make a preliminary and final review of the building up of cultured families, villages and hamlets in localities' emulation movements.

h/ Official training and fostering:

To raise the awareness of the Party's undertakings and policies as well as the State's law on ethnic groups' culture and the capability to manage professional work for the contingent of officials, public employees and core collaborators capable of advising the local Party committees and administrations on various levels in order to meet the requirements of the grassroots culture-information activities.

Main subjects are district- and commune-level officials, agencies, units and schools, with importance being attached to training of officials and public employees who are ethnic minority people.

7. Geographical areas for conservation and promotion of traditional heritages of ethnic minority groups:

a/ Geographical areas highly prone to the loss of traditional cultural products (precious vestiges and antiques as well as intangible cultural products);

b/ Ethnic groups with small population, low intellectual standard, low living conditions and with no conditions to protect and promote their cultural heritages by themselves (such as Slila, La Hu, Ruc, Rac Lai, Brau,... ethnic groups);

c/ Areas where cultural identity has been being blotted out due to negative impacts, thus making people not really attach importance to cultural heritages of their ethnic groups;

d/ Areas under planned projects on construction of industrial, agricultural as well as communications and transport works for socio-economic development, where villages or hamlets must be relocated to new areas;

e/ Priority shall be given to key areas where people's enjoyment of culture and information remains low, such as border areas, highlands, mountainous areas meeting with exceptional difficulties (KV3), former resistance as well as revolutionary bases, key areas where ethnic minority people concentrate such as the Central Highlands, northwestern region, Northern Vietnam, southwestern region and highlands. Importance shall be attached to key areas inhabited by ethnic minority people, where religions are illegally preached and areas meeting with exceptional difficulties (under Program 135).

8. Implementation solutions:

Based on the practical conditions of localities in each period, to apply synchronously and efficiently the following solutions:

a/ To unify and raise the awareness and sense of responsibility of all levels and branches as well as in the entire culture-information service;

b/ To enhance the work of State management at all levels, branches and localities;

c/ To step up the organization and personnel work;

d/ To enhance material bases and equipment for culture-information activities;

e/ To promote suitable forms of socialization in culture-information activities in regions inhabited by ethnic minority people and mountainous areas in order to mobilize the existing potentials in localities, branches, forces and people for raising the people's level of spiritual life enjoyment;

f/ To step up the work of information and propagation; introduce good models, and disseminate good experiences and examples in culture-information activities for mutual encouragement and study.

9. Capital sources:

a/ The source allocated by the State budget to the culture-information service (capital construction and non-business activities as well as capital set aside for the national target program on culture);

b/ The source allocated by the State budget to localities, including budget earmarked for culture-information activities;

c/ Branches' budget sources earmarked for culture-information activities;

d/ People's contributions;

e/ Socio-political organizations' contributions;

f/ Financial aids provided by foreign organizations and individuals.

Article 2.- Implementation organization:

1. The Ministry of Culture and Information shall assume the prime responsibility and, together with relevant agencies, draw up specific plans, and direct the implementation of this scheme.

The ministries, the ministerial-level agencies, the agencies attached to the Government and concerned agencies shall, according to their respective functions and tasks as well as under the scheme owner's assignment, organize the implementation of the assigned contents.

2. The People's Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall base themselves on the scheme's contents and the Culture and Information Ministry's guidance to coordinate with relevant branches in drawing up annual implementation plan, and apportion fundings for implementation.

3. The Ministry of Culture and Information shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the concerned ministries and branches in guiding the implementation of this scheme and integrating it into other socio-cultural schemes and the "national target program on culture till 2005" already approved by the Prime Minister.

Article 3.-

1. This Decision takes implementation 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette.

2. The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government and the presidents of the People's Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall have to implement this Decision.

For the Prime Minister

Deputy Prime Minister
PHAM GIA KHIEM